୨ronansports୧

i wasn't a hockey fan when troubs joined the league with the jets, but what i can tell you about him and winnepeg is this: the main reason he decided to leave is because his wife wanted to go to medical school in the US, and one of the most important things to know about jacob trouba is this: he's a wife guy.

his 7 year contract with the rangers actually featured a five year no move clause that lined up with his wife's residency. that is the only reason he came to new york, and wanted to stay there so long without ever having played a game yet. of course, anyone who plays in the garden will tell you they never wanted to leave(any reasonable person that is)but his love for the team and our love for him came later.

when he signed in 2019 we were down a captain and down in spirits. the last few years had been shit, and we'd traded a lot of our core on a rebuild that some people had doubts in. now, it wasn't a fix all or anything, but in 70 games he got himself 27 points which for a hard hitting defense only guy is pretty damn good. and, it was enough to put him 9th in overall scoring, but that's mostly because the rangers sucked major ass at the time, despite the plethora of talent on the team.

fast forward a bit(skipping the shit years, all of which he still played great in). going into the 22-23 season is when troubs was given his captaincy. we had gotten back to our footing the year before, and with our new captain things felt pretty great as a rangers fan. jacob trouba was beloved, and still remains a very beloved part of this team. he led us to a very near cup, and the only reason the rangers AREN'T still a top team is because our gm is being paid off by someone to fuck us up. troubs was incredible, i miss him every day.(fun fact, the two dmen we traded at the start of our rebuild were troubs captaincy predecessor ryan mcdonagh, and successor jt miller.)

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now is when we get into the team dynamics. the rangers had previously had some issues with players(deangelo to be specific, who got what his racist ass deserved: punched by two different teammates)but by this point the team had settled into each other. and a BIG part of that was thanks to troubs.

jacob as always been outspoken about his personal beliefs, be it congratulating and standing up for luke prokop when he came out or publicly calling out any racism against his teammate and d-partner k'andre miller(to the extent of shitting on trump himself. yes folks, jacob trouba hates trump.)and he made it a point to carry those beliefs into the locker room. ask anyone on the team and they'd tell you that he's an incredible guy: a good friend, a good leader, a good person. the main reason i think this era of the rangers worked so well AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TORN APART BY AN IDIOTIC GM, THANKS, is because they were friends.

did a quick scan of his followers/following list for this, and nearly all of his old rags teammates follow him. plus, he's good friends with Dr Mike! yes, the hot tall russian doctor on youtube.. don't ask me how, but they're tight. (also ahem continuing with my bias, he's a umich alumni which is where i think he and Kelly met?? she went there too so i'm just guessing here, but if so that is so cute.)

now, on the topic of rangers teammates, he was good friends with the one and only ryan reaves, who is of course now on the sharks so we can see that reunion. i've got my qualms with ryan(mostly due to him being a republican)but overall...eh, i can't complain. he's also good friends with wenny(my love)and goody, both of whom he played with in ny, and in my opinion should have won a cup with. whatever, i'll stay salty.

overall, the guy is very well liked, and very well respected by both his teammates and his fans.

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now, for the best part(other than him being a super awesome person overall, and also a great artist!)

if there is one thing you need to know about how jacob trouba plays hockey, it's this: in new york, we nicknamed him the freight train.

this man will hit someone through the glass for fun and keep skating like nothing happened. he's built like a tank and isn't afraid to remind anyone of that. he'll crush you in a fight and then score a hundred mile per hour one timer on the next shift. his only issue is the tendency to catch people in the face with an elbow. i think they should simply move out of the way.

the sharks have definitely struggled with physicality in recent years. sure you've got like, reaves, but he's not exactly playing every night. we've got a lot of young guys which is nice, but we have needed a dman like this who will get dirty, shake it off, and go back to being an absolute unit five seconds later. the joy i felt seeing him signed cannot be spoken into words: san jose needed this.

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all of this to say. i love jacob trouba. new york loves jacob trouba. i hope san jose loves jacob trouba.